Unlocking Experience

Abstract

Experiences don’t just happen to us. An important aspect of understanding aesthetic experience is to understand what we do when we are trying to have it. Trying to have an aesthetic experience is often a mental action. And we learn from an early age how to perform these actions and which action is to be performed under what circumstances. This is an important reason why aesthetic experiences vary wildly depending on our personal and cultural background. It also explains an important sense in which aesthetic phenomena matter to us personally. And it also captures an important aspect of how aesthetic endeavors can serve as a social glue.